Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
A man who set 25 fires at the Carberry McCain Foods plant in less than a month has been sentenced to house arrest.
Court heard how a long struggle with depression and substance abuse led James Shea Stewart to light the fires.
“That led to what could only be determined as bizarre behaviour,” Justice Robert Cummings said in Brandon court of Queen’s Bench on Monday afternoon as 38-year-old Stewart was sentenced for mischief over $5,000.
Crown attorney Grant Hughes described how McCain staff struggled to find the reason behind the mysterious series of fires set between Nov. 10 and Dec. 7 of 2010.
Stewart, a cleaner at the plant at the time, was working during or immediately before each fire.
At first, he set filter paper boxes alight. The boxes are used to clean vegetable oil which has been used to cook french fries, thus allowing the oil to be reused.
Starting on Nov. 10, there were five filter paper fires within three days.
Unaware they had a firebug in their midst, plant staff thought there was something wrong with the paper itself, although such fires were extremely rare and happened only once every several years.
New filter paper was shipped in but the filter paper fires continued even though staff had set up a fire watch.
On Dec. 6, 2010 paper was stuffed into the overflow pipe of an oil storage tank and set alight.
Stewart had been spotted near a couple of the fires and the next day suspicious managers moved him to another area.
It didn’t stop the fires, as four small blazes were set in a storage room which burned foam insulation and a wooden beam. The area would have been accessible to Stewart at his new post.
At that point, the Office of the Fire Commissioner reviewed the evidence and concluded that the fires were intentionally set and Stewart was subsequently charged.
In total, there were 25 fires that cost McCain a total of $39,218 in lost time, damages and personnel costs.
Hughes said that, despite all this, the risk of a large fire was low because vegetable oil only burns at a very high temperature.
“Mr. Stewart’s actions were more of a nuisance to McCain,” Hughes said.
Stewart’s guilty plea was the result of a plea bargain struck by Hughes and defence lawyer Richard Wolson.
Together, the lawyers recommended 12 months house arrest and an order that Stewart pay $10,000 to McCain as restitution.
In accepting the sentence, Cummings noted that Stewart struggled with depression and other psychological problems that led to alcohol and prescription drug abuse.
As a result, a psychologist noted, Stewart was disgruntled with his work and angry at life and himself in general. Stewart couldn’t fully explain his actions, but the psychologist suggested that he set the fires out of a subconscious wish to get caught and punished as an expression of self-hatred.
However, the judge noted that Stewart has responded well to treatment and counseling and has worked hard to turn his life around to ensure that he no longer poses a risk to the community. Acquaintances report that Stewart is now a happy family man.
During his sentence, Stewart’s time under house arrest will gradually be loosened from 24 hours per day to six hours during the night. House arrest will be followed by one year of probation.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition June 12, 2012
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A man who set 25 fires at the Carberry McCain Foods plant in less than a month has been sentenced to house arrest.
Court heard how a long struggle with depression and substance abuse led James Shea Stewart to light the fires.
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A man who set 25 fires at the Carberry McCain Foods plant in less than a month has been sentenced to house arrest.
Court heard how a long struggle with depression and substance abuse led James Shea Stewart to light the fires.
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